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Bombay HC to hear Centre’s defence of new IT rules on Tuesday unless Supreme Court intervenes – India Today

The Bombay High Court will hear the central government’s defence of the new Information Technology (IT) Rules on Tuesday unless the Supreme Court intervenes before that.

On Monday, the high court heard two petitions against the new IT rules, one filed by a news organisation and another by a Mumbai-based journalist. During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the government told the court that the Supreme Court would be hearing a transfer petition filed by the Centre on Tuesday.

After a number of petitions challenging the rules were filed across high courts in India, the central government moved the apex court asking that all of them be brought together before it. However, the Supreme Court has not passed any order since the beginning of July to put a stay on the hearings in the high courts.

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After Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh pointed this out, the division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said they will continue hearing the case at 2.30 pm on Tuesday unless “there is a contra order by the Supreme Court [by Tuesday afternoon]”.

“We passed an order on July 8 to defer the hearing. It has been a month and you have not managed to get an order there [from the Supreme Court],” the Chief Justice said.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh responded, “It is not like we have not taken steps. I am told it was mentioned last week too.”

ARGUMENTS MADE BY PETITIONERS AGAINST NEW IT RULES

The court heard both petitioners on Monday. Advocate Darius Khambata, appearing for the news organisation, argued that the new rules are ultra vires to the Information Technology Act.

He said, “The Act does not regulate content but the rules brazenly do so. The rules go far beyond permissible restrictions under Article 19(2). The rules have a chilling effect on authors or anyone who wants to put anything up on the internet, because they are so wide. The rules are unreasonable.”

Advocate Darius Khambata clarified that while section 79 of the IT Act gives certain immunity to intermediaries such as Facebook and Twitter if they follow certain guidelines, he was “seeking relief for news publishers”.

“These rules seek to effectively monitor and censor speech on the internet via a different ministry. It is the most draconian law against free speech in recent times,” argued Darius Khambata

The bench asked him to provide the judgment which provides for stay on legislation at an interim stage and he promised to revert on this.

Advocate Abhay Nevagi appeared for the journalist who filed a petition against the new IT rules.

WHAT DID THE COURT SAY?

After hearing both lawyers, the court pointed to Singh’s argument about the transfer petition in the Supreme Court.

The bench stated, “He urges this court to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court. We propose to hear the arguments of the Additional Solicitor General opposing the submissions of the petitioners, provided the Supreme Court does not preclude this court from passing an order.”

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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/law/story/bombay-hc-hear-centre-defence-new-it-rules-tuesday-unless-supreme-court-intervenes-1838851-2021-08-09